Winter Heating

The statute governing statewide minimum housing standards is RSA 48-A. The state minimum heating standard is found in 48-A:14. Check also your local town or city ordinances because those standards might be stricter.

See 358-A:10

"The respondent, Nahla Abounaja, appeals an order of the Rochester District Court (Cappiello, J.) that awarded the petitioner, Myla Randall, $18,000 in damages under RSA 540-A:4 (Supp. 2012) (amended 2011) because of the respondent's willful failure to provide heat to the petitioner's apartment for eighteen days."

"RSA 540-A:3, I, provides: "No landlord shall willfully cause, directly or indirectly, the interruption or termination of any utility service being supplied to the tenant including, but not limited to ... heat ... [or] gas ..., whether or not the utility service is under the control of the landlord." A violation of RSA 540-A:3, I, entitles the tenant to a separate award of actual damages or $1,000, whichever is greater, for each day that the condition continues."

"The plain language of the statute [RSA 540-A:3] contemplates its violation by willful action as well as willful inaction by employing the terms “directly or indirectly.” The [landlord] may not have willfully caused the interruption of the [tenant's] heat directly, as did the landlord in Wass who locked the tenant's gas tank. However, ... the defendant may have willfully caused the interruption indirectly by failing to repair the heating system after being put on notice that it was broken and being ordered by the court to fix it."

See Puc 1204, Winter Rules. According to Puc 1204.01, these rules "shall apply only to residential customers of public utilities providing gas or electric service in the state of New Hampshire excluding limited electrical energy producers as defined in RSA 362-A."

Manchester's standard for winter heating is slightly different from the State's. See § 150.085 HEATING FACILITIES. Always check the local ordinances. The State sets the minimum standard, but municipalities can be stricter.

This table contains links to New Hampshire municipality websites. Most of them include local ordinances.